


sunlight on a broken column

by Medie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-22
Updated: 2010-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-07 11:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vala has not known sweet dreams in many, many years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sunlight on a broken column

**Author's Note:**

> written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/ordinarymoments/profile)[**ordinarymoments**](http://community.livejournal.com/ordinarymoments/) ficathon. Prompt was Vala and Celestius. Thanks to _havocthecat_ for grammar beating. the title comes from [The Hollow Man](http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~evans/hollow.html) by T.S. Eliot.

_Eyes I dare not meet in dreams  
In death's dream kingdom  
These do not appear:  
There, the eyes are_

  
*  
Celestius haunts her dreams.

*

The Tau'ri have many appreciable talents which Vala has come to know and savor. So many little delights wrapped up in the oddest idiosyncrasies; their home shopping networks, their fashion industries, not to mention an entire profession devoted to the enlargement of women's breasts. She finds that especially impressive (not that _she_ needs such an industry, of course).

Earth is such a delightfully imaginative little planet, a near utopia of wonderful ideas, inventions, and utterly useless delights.

Unfortunate that so many equally unpleasant talents must soil the fun. Their flair for unwittingly bitter irony is chief among those unpleasant talents, and it could easily drive a woman mad.

They are three days back from Celestius, when Daniel absently wishes Vala 'sweet dreams,' before stepping into the elevator to leave for the night.

The closing door only just prevents her from attacking him.

Vala has not known sweet dreams in many, many years.

Truthfully, she's uncertain if she ever did.

*

With their reports, the SGC begins to buzz with whispered speculation of the Ori. Dread steals over her human companions with its cold, inevitable crawl of realization. The potential impact of this new enemy, however, seems to leave she and Teal'c untouched and Vala is not surprised by this.

She knows they've both been here too many times, had too many monsters stalk their steps and their sleep. For what seems like an eternity, Qetesh has been a faithful companion through her dreams.

The Goa'uld's ghost awaits the closing of her eyes each night, and then plays out the past in excruciating detail.

She slides into bed at night and, instead of the sheets, Vala feels the silks of robes which slip like the breath of air over her skin. In the silence of her room she hears Qetesh laugh as Athena's lips ghost over her flesh, and she grows wet at the memory of their mouths meeting in a kiss. Memories that bleed too easily from the pleasures shared in bed to other pleasures enjoyed over the screams of the dying. She hears feels herself laugh when a mother begs for the life of her child, groans with the heavy knowledge that, aroused by the fear, Qetesh will coerce the woman into her bed to take her pleasure with the promise of the child's survival…

Only to kill them both with the rising of the sun.

She wakes with bile rising in her throat, and just makes it to the trash. She doesn't need to fear the Ori; she already has a demon tormenting her every breath.

*

Qetesh would love Celestius. Perhaps even to the point that she would try to take it for her very own. The symbiote is years dead and gone from her body, but Vala still feels desire coil in her belly when the city enters her thoughts. It is a city fit for a goddess, and she easily imagines the Goa'uld's lust to have it in her possession.

It's a visceral thing, the yearning which follows her from her dreams to slither through her waking mind like a serpent moving through the grass.

Vala masks the intrusion with lighthearted laughter and inane babble to smooth over the darkness of her thoughts; Colonel Mitchell and Daniel are none the wiser, Sam and Teal'c cast her appraising looks in their way but say nothing. Vala herself can almost ignore the whispers of want that race along her body to pool between her legs when she listens to Daniel describe the city for the others.

In her weaker moments she wonders if, perhaps, the Tok'ra lied when they proclaimed her free. Qetesh no longer exerts dominance over her body, but perhaps she's just decided on a different strategy. Perhaps she no longer needs that control to twist Vala to her will.

Perhaps, freed from the confines of a physical body Qetesh is stronger than ever, and Vala will never be free.

The General looks her way, and Vala perks up with a bright smile. She shares none of this with the Tau'ri.

There is nothing which can be done.

*

She walks the halls of the city barefoot, feet cool against the polished marble floors. The slightest brush of her gown's fabric against the floor creates not even the faintest whisper of sound.

A smile curves her lips as she approaches the balcony, and the first hint of the early light of dawn brightens the sky.

Qetesh rests her hands on the balcony's rail, and smiles out over the city with eyes of gold, listening to the screams of the faithful.

The Priors bow their heads, and she laughs in the face of their dead gods.

*

Vala wakes up laughing.


End file.
